2023-06-26 10:31:55
pte20230626018 Medicine/Wellness, Research/Development
Tailored short, proteinaceous molecule leads to defective gene activation
Cancer cell: tailor-made molecule leads to suicide (Image: mcmurryjulie, pixabay.com)
Marburg (pte018/26.06.2023/10:30)
Researchers at the University of Marburg have developed a short, protein-like molecule (peptide) that impedes cancer growth by blocking a protein complex whose binding partners it deceptively resembles. The affected cells then initiate suicide. Details can be found in “Cell Chemical Biology”.
Perfect fit
The coupling between the protein complex ELOB/C and its partners is based on the fact that ELOB/C contains a binding pocket that has a counterpart on the partner molecules. This counterpart – the target sequence called BC-Box – fits into the binding pocket like an access card into the reader of a hotel room door. The target sequence consists of amino acids in a specific sequence.
“The BC box nestles in the binding pocket of the ELOB/C complex. This fit allows ELOB/C to work together with the partner proteins,” says lead author Olalla Vázquez. “The tailor-made peptide fits exactly into the binding pocket of ELOB/C, leaving no space for the target sequence of other proteins,” says Vázques’ collaborator Van Tuan Trinh, also a co-author.
inhibit growth
The subterfuge prevents the ELOB/C complex from interacting with its partners. “If you treat cancer cells with our peptide, they show impaired gene activation and increasingly initiate a cell death program that leads to their death,” explains co-author Sabrina Fischer. Blocking the binding pocket of ELOB/C is a viable strategy to prevent this inhibit the growth of cancer cells.
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